The decline of the department stores and the rise of the shopping malls in Hong Kong are the complex amalgamating results of many interweaving factors like the changes in the consumer culture, economy, planning, urban development, government policies and many other events throughout the history of the city.

Frank Lowy had built his mall empire on the highly successful model of the suburban center; the design of this prototype — large, undivided pedestrian spaces without passing cars and trucks — was totally oriented to making it as easy as possible for consumers to spend money,” Ms. Sagalyn wrote.

Strip malls have developed since the 1920s, corresponding to the rise of suburban living in the United States after World War II. As such, the strip mall development has been the subject of the same criticisms leveled against suburbanisation and suburban sprawl in general.